"Remember, the mission of this campaign, codenamed Desert Storm, is to capture Isfahan and stabilize the battle line at Qom, Kashan, and Zavare. At this time, it is enough to let Huaxia realize our strength, so that they do not dare to act rashly, instead of continuing to advance north. Fight a decisive battle with Huaxia in Iran. Before Guderian left, Army Commander-in-Chief Kluge reminded.

"If we can use Isfahan as a bait to lure the other side to send reinforcements from the direction of Qom, and then we concentrate our forces to fight an ambush on the other side, the situation in the whole of Iran will change, and Huaxia has concentrated 1 heavy division and 1 independent armored brigade and 2 infantry divisions in the southern region of Isfahan, plus Iranian troops, this legion has more than 100,000 people! If we eat some of the reinforcements at the same time as this heavy army group, Huaxia will lose at least a quarter of its troops in this battle! Guderian hesitated for a moment, but still told his plan.

"You want to eat Qom and block Huaxia's southward passage?" Kluge asked, confused. If China attacked the German army, there were only a few ways to choose, one was to attack the two river valleys to the west, but this area was relatively narrow. Moreover, the German Army and the Turkish Army have built a number of fortifications, and they belong to the hinterland of the German army, and the defense force is strong. It is not a good idea for Huaxia, which does not have enough troops. The other was the Eastern Front, which was attacked from the Iranian province of Khorasan, and this attack route was directed at the forward departure positions of the German army, which was very strong and far away. It's not a good option either.

And the most worrying thing for the German Army was the passage in Isfahan. This is the place where the German army is at its deepest. And it's closer. In the end, one of the fundamental reasons why Kluge and others agreed to launch an offensive was to protect their flanks. Guderian's idea was more radical, pushing the front directly to the southern gate of Tehran. Use this to contain the Chinese forces in Iran! Tehran cannot afford not to defend. With this baggage, not only the most likely plans for a march on the middle line were disrupted. When operating on the other two fronts, Huaxia also had to consider leaving enough troops near Tehran, strategically speaking, this is a very good move, the key is to see if Guderian can realize this plan!

"At least we have the advantage in numbers, and we still have plenty of supplies and Tiger tanks, although I've heard that Huaxia has made some new toys, but I don't think it can fight our Tiger! Our armored units have been tested by blood and fire, and the personnel and equipment are running in very well. And after the outbreak of the 2 war. The Chinese Army has not yet conducted a major campaign. Just keep the logistics and the safety of our heads. I think it's entirely possible. Guderian insisted.

"Then go ahead, I'll allocate you 4 Tiger heavy tank battalions. Make good use of them. Klug nodded. Don't push yourself too hard, you can choose to give up after you've reached the minimum goal. According to the German high-level plan, since there was no way to quickly resolve the war by landing in Britain, another opportunity to resolve the war was to capture India and then force Britain to negotiate. As long as India can be controlled, it is equivalent to forging a breakwater outside the sphere of influence of the Central Powers. It is unlikely that the Entente will drive the Germans back again! After all, Myanmar is not a good springboard. And all kinds of raw materials in India are enough to support the consumption of the Allies!

So, with the full assistance of the air force and army, Guderian confidently went to the Middle East to direct his northward group. As many as 15 divisions were deployed on either side of the Isfahan salient. Manstein and Moder would continue to command more than 700,000 German troops and Austro-Hungarian and Turkish legions to attack British India. And in the face of the long-planned attack of the Germans, both China and the Entente have been preparing for a long time.

At this time, Guderian's old rival Xu Huaide was waiting for the arrival of the Germans in the Isfahan generation, and Huaxia also knew that the wedge he had scored was really unbearable for the Germans. It was expected that the German Army would take the initiative to pull out this nail before attacking India, and if it did not act, it would be strange! At the beginning of the war. The Chinese Army has repeatedly deduced the situation in northern Iran, and has come to the conclusion that the salient in Isfahan province cannot stand it at all. With the superior strength and determination of the Germans, all Huaxia could do was delay and wear down the opponent. And it is not appropriate to fight a decisive battle in a zone that is too deep into the opponent. The forces deployed by the Chinese in northern Iran were considered to be insufficient to attack and more than to be defended. Before the German Army advanced deep into the South Asian subcontinent, the large-scale offensive launched by China outweighed the losses.

However, even so, the Chinese Army still wanted to use this opportunity to knock out a few teeth of the Germans and test the performance of the new equipment by the way. When the Huaxia Army and the German Army sometimes follow the same path, when Huaxia discovers that the Type 29 tank may not meet the requirements of future combat, the first thing to do is a Dragon heavy tank with advanced enough performance, but high cost and small quantity. And this plan is progressing very quickly, at the beginning of the outbreak of World War 2, the troops have been equipped, and now, Huaxia has no less Dragon tanks than the Germans Tiger, after the mainstay of the armored forces, Huaxia and the Germans began to upgrade their medium tanks, the Germans chose the Leopard tank, and Huaxia is equipped with 90MML50 Type 35 medium tank.

Because Huaxia and the United States have engaged in a tank with similar performance and needs at the same time, with the cooperation of the two countries, Huaxia's Type 35 tank and the American's Pershing tank have also entered the mass production stage. Although the number is small, the Huaxia have already deployed some tanks in northern Iran, and the Americans have also deployed Pershing tanks to India! Although they did not catch up with the battle in France, they all have a chance to prove themselves in future battles!

As a leader in the Chinese Army, Peng Yi's favorite general, and a hero of the Iranian Civil War. Xu Huaide's troops were among the best in the Chinese Army. But even so, before going to the battlefield, Xu Huaide's 2 armored divisions and 4 mechanized infantry divisions still failed to complete the redress! True, there were some problems with the intelligence of the Germans, in the Isfahan region. Huaxia had 6 divisions of almost 80,000 troops, not the size of 4 divisions that the Germans began to estimate! And the number of the entire Northern Iranian Chinese Army Corps is more than 420,000. The reason for the deviation is that some Chinese divisions directly used the name of the Iranian army after entering Iran.

This time it's logistically busy. Look at the Dragon heavy tanks, Type 35 medium tanks, and a handful of Type 29 tanks and tank destroyers on the staging ground. Xu Huaide couldn't help but worry about his logistics support. This is the first time in the world that there are 3 types of tanks and more transformation cars in the system of one division!

As a matter of convention. An armored division in China has 4 armored battalions, namely 1 heavy tank battalion, 2 medium tank battalions, and 1 mixed tank destroyer/assault gun battalion. The heavy tank battalion of the armored division in Xu Huaide's hands is fully staffed, and the 60 Dragon tanks are fighting at a high level. 2 medium tank battalions is a big problem, in fact, the number of Type 35 tanks is not more than the Dragon tanks produced in advance, and each armored division can only be assigned to 1 Type 35 medium tank battalion, that is, 78 vehicles. An additional battalion must also be an improved version of the Type 29 tank. The mixed tank destroyer/assault gun battalion is no different from the original, the only difference is that the gun of the Type 29 tank destroyer has been upgraded from 90MML45 to 90MML50. and the same firepower as the Type 35 tank.

This is still the main armored division, if it is a mechanized infantry division. 1 reinforced armored battalion can be divided into a maximum of 20 to 30 Type 35 tanks. The rest can only be replaced by Type 29 tanks and deformation cars. Xu Jie's idea of fading out of the Type 29 tank now seems to have to be delayed for a while to be realized, which makes Xu Huaide very unhappy, but when he thinks about the Germans, most of them are No. 4 tanks. Legend has it that the new medium tank is still in sight, so there is nothing to complain about.

Although Xu Huaide's troops can be called strong and strong, he also understands that two fists are difficult to defeat four hands, and a good dog can't stand up to many wolves, the Germans have at least twice as many troops as themselves, and the Germans like to break through, divide and outflank. Therefore, not all of the six divisions commanded by Xu Huaide were cowered in the city of Isfahan. Instead, it was deployed in the north-west direction, and when the situation was not good, it immediately withdrew in the direction of Qom. And in Qom was 1 armored division, 2 separate armored brigades and 5 mechanized infantry divisions under the command of Tian Yong. This force is the key to ensuring the safety of Tehran's southern gate and the withdrawal of Xu Huaide's troops.

Theoretically, the total strength of these two forces is not inferior to Guderian's troops, but in practice, it is impossible for Tian Yong to send all the troops, and Guderian is in addition to the 17 divisions on the front line. There are also reinforcements that can be mobilized, and overall, Xu Huaide's troops are absolutely inferior in terms of numbers.

It was the first large-scale land battle since China entered the war. Xu Jie instructed that he must be victorious and majestic, even if he has to evacuate in the end. And teach the Germans a good lesson! And the Air Force, under Qin Yue's instructions, did its best to cooperate with the Army's operations, they said. Even if it was not possible to provide on-call fire support to the brothers in the army, at least it was necessary to ensure that the bombs of the Germans did not fall on the heads of the brothers. Of course, if you say that, the actual situation depends on the situation on the battlefield!

Unlike Guderian, Xu Huaide did not care about the gains and losses of one city or one place in this operation, and the main purpose of the operation was to kill and injure the elite of the German Army. So Xu Huaide decisively concentrated the troops, and now the 6 divisions under him are like a contraction of fists. It was decided to deal a heavy blow in the German movement. Compared to the German army, the Chinese armored forces were more mobile, and one division had about 2,500 vehicles of various types to provide supplies. With the addition of some preset supply depots and repair depots, in the range of Isfahan Province, the mobility of the Huaxia armored forces has been exerted to the extreme!

And what about the Germans? The 5 armored divisions are genuine armored units, equipped with a lot of trucks and half-tracks, and the mobility is first-class, but only 4 of the 11 infantry divisions can meet the Chinese standard mechanized infantry divisions, and the other 7 divisions are preparing to establish a solid defensive line and finally participate in the siege battle, and the means of logistics and transportation are also a mixture of mules, horses and vehicles. After all, in terms of front-line troops, the Germans were much larger in size than in China, and the resources that could be allocated to the army were less than in China, and while ensuring quantity, the quality would naturally be worse. However, even so, the number of mobile forces in Guderian's hands was still stronger than that of Huaxia.

"The whole province of Isfahan is under the pinch of the Germans, and if we want to go, there is only a choice of Qom to the north-west. Although the northeast direction is also a theoretical breakthrough, it is difficult for a large army to cross the desert and the next door. The Germans knew this very well, so the most likely tactic they would adopt was to launch a centripetal assault on the city of Isfahan from the east and west, while sending elite forces to cut off the link between us and Qom. If you're conservative, they'll build a line of defense, and if you're aggressive, they'll be able to surround and send reinforcements! Humble Huaide said.

Guderian is a man who is good at interspersing and dividing opponents. He doesn't like to engage the opponent very much, he prefers to cut off the opponent's retreat with elite armored troops, and then hand over the enemy who has lost supplies to the infantry unit to solve. So he wouldn't besiege a fortified point like a bull like other German commanders. And the current situation between the two sides has determined that Guderian only needs to card the gap in the northwest direction. Therefore, Xu Huaide decided to set up an ambush in the northwest of Isfahan Province, first inflicting heavy losses on Guderian's heavily armored division, and then attacking the flank of his besieging corps.

"Let's hope Huaxia Dragon won't let us down." Since it is a mobile battle in the wilderness, the performance of the equipment directly determines the victory or defeat of the battle. The German Tiger tank broke down in blood and fire, and its great prestige was even heard of by Xu Huaide. After the Americans acquired a near-complete Tiger tank, Huaxia technicians also studied this tank. After many measurements and artillery fire, the results were somewhat unencouraging. The current Type 29 tank and its variants pose little threat to the Tiger tank. The Type 90 tank, armed with the MML50 gun, was also difficult to penetrate the nose and turret of the Tiger tank. Although the performance on the shooting range was okay, Void Wisdom knew very well that there were so many opportunities for you to fire at your opponent on the battlefield. Both sides have some dip bonuses during the battle! Face the German Tigers. The only thing Xu Huaide can rely on is the new Dragon tank!

Thanks to the book friend First Tank Guards Brigade for the reward~~~, and the book friend Lin Yi's monthly pass support ~~~~~. (To be continued.) )